The Online Civil Liberties Portal

August 7, 2014

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association has received a grant from the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) to develop an online civil liberties information portal. This portal will provide strategic, interactive online tools to empower vulnerable populations, enabling them to share and gain knowledge and experience; engage with civil liberties issues; and increase participation in policy-making and democracy. The portal will provide a central online hub for rights information, an accessible teaching tool, and a means to make citizens heard.

CIRA manages the .CA domain and also has a mandate to carry out other activities that support the Internet in Canada. Earlier this year, CIRA launched a Community Investment Program (CIP), to provide funding to community groups, not-for-profits and academic institutions for projects they could demonstrate would enhance the Internet for the benefit of all Canadians. Just over $1 million was earmarked for the first edition of the CIP.

CCLA is one of only 28 organizations to receive funding in the first edition of the CIP, from among 149 applicants.

“The enthusiastic response we saw from applicants across the country is evidence of CIRA’s long-standing conviction that the Internet has become a critical daily tool in the lives of all Canadians,” said Byron Holland, CEO of CIRA. “Our selection committee faced a difficult task to review and choose from among 149 applications, representing just under $8 million in requests. I want to personally congratulate the Canadian Civil Liberties Association as one of our first funding recipients.”

CCLA invites you to participate in a short survey (5-10 minutes) to help us ensure that the content we develop for our website will contain the kind of information that you as a CCLA member would find useful or interesting.

Click here to proceed to the survey now.

To the best of our ability your answers in this study will remain confidential. Furthermore, to the best of our knowledge we believe there are no known risks associated with this survey; however, as with any online related activity the risk of a breach of confidentiality is possible. We will minimize any risks by not asking for your name or other personally identifying information on the survey unless you agree to follow-up communication and by not leaving the survey data online after the collection period.

We believe that the best way to create a useful information portal for the civil liberties community in Canada is to make sure as many people as possible have the chance to share priorities and guide content development. With your help, we want to develop a great website that will provide important information about civil liberties for Canadians. We really hope that you decide to participate!